Corey Stoll Says His Son, 8, Won't Watch Ant-Man Because It 'Feels Weird' Seeing Him as a Bad Guy (Exclusive) (2024)

Corey Stoll’s 8-year-old son Nico is starting to understand his dad’s job as an actor, but still hasn’t been able to watch him in Marvel's Ant-Man.

In an interview with PEOPLE earlier this month at the 2024 Tony Awards Meet the Nominees junket, Stoll, 48, reveals that his son “just started trying to watch" the 2015 superhero film, but abandoned the movie when he saw his dad playing super villain Yellowjacket.

"He was like, ‘This is weird,' " Stoll says, adding that he thinks “seeing me as a bad guy is a little weird for him.”

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Stoll starred Ant-Man opposite Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly. While his character appeared to die in the end of the film, he re-appeared — this time under the moniker M.O.D.A.K. — in 2023's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

The actor goes on to share that he and his wife Nadia Bowers aim to ensure that the fame part of his job is “not a central part of [their son's] life.”

It was a lesson Stoll and Bowers, 50, were able to teach during a previous trip to Italy, where Stoll and Bowers were creating a theater piece together.

“He actually got to see what went into creating the work,” Stoll recalls. “That was really important for us, for him to know that I'm not doing this to be famous. It's not fame for fame's sake. That fame is a byproduct and something that helps you get more work, but it's the work that is why I do it and what gives me satisfaction.”

Stoll is currently on Broadway in Branden Jacobs Jenkins's acclaimed play Appropriate. The drama, which also stars Sarah Paulson and Michael Esper, follows a trio of siblings "forced to face the ghosts of their past" when they return to their late father's estate in Arkansas after his death.

Both Stoll and Paulson received Tony nominations for their roles. The play is up for eight awards in total, including best play.

The House of Cards alum said he was "thrilled" about his Tony nomination — but jokes that his wife has "a crazy reaction” to his nomination, saying that she was “just screaming” about it.

And though the actual story is ridden with a lot of intense family drama, Stoll confirms that it’s a “dream” working closely with Paulson and Esper, who play his Bo's siblings in the show.

“We love each other in real life, but we're not afraid to really go for the jugular on stage," says Stoll. "I think maybe in some ways, knowing that we have each other's back allows us to really become savages with each other on stage. It really is a joy to work with them every night.”

Appropriate

The 2024 Tony Awardswill take place on Sunday, June 16 at Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater in New York City. Viewers can watch the show on CBS and Paramount+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Select awards will also be handed out on a pre-show that will stream on Pluto TV.